Guo Ye is indeed not sure that he will be able to defeat the Anglo-French alliance army of 20,000 people, after all, there are too few Qing troops at hand that can be worthy of a battle, only more than 1,000 people led by Zuo Guigui in Shanhaiguan, plus 600 people under Chen Hai, the others are all praise chicken feathers, a rabble of courageous people, vulnerable to a single attack, now can only be deterred, really want a decisive battle, specially, the odds of winning are as difficult as Xiang Ma Huateng's dedication!

If Guo Ye is given three or five years to really train elite soldiers from a province, it is still possible, but now it is far behind.

Fortunately, now Erjin and Gro are also frightened, and the two sides are afraid of beating wolves, and no one wants to start a war easily.

Ergin and Gro had no choice but to change the plan, and the two sides sat down again and began to bargain!

After a full day of haggling, the two sides finally came to an agreement:

The first problem is the problem of the Kowloon Peninsula, at the insistence of Guo Ye, Prince Gong and Erjin reached a consensus to lease the Kowloon Peninsula to the British for an indefinite period, but the rent cannot be less, the annual rent is 100,000 taels of silver, and the rent will be directly deducted from the compensation for each year.

The second problem is the issue of indemnity, the Qing government compensated the British and French governments with two million taels of silver, and at the same time, all the cultural relics looted by the British and French must remain in China, and they can only leave China with gold and silver, in order to compensate for the losses of the British and French, the Qing government once again invested two million taels of silver to redeem all the cultural relics!

Third, the Qing government opened a total of 10 cities along the southeast coast and the northern coast as commercial ports, and at the same time opened six cities in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River as commercial ports, allowing British and French merchants to trade freely.

Fourth, Britain and France should be allowed to open legations in Beijing. It is responsible for handling the diplomatic affairs between the three countries, and at the same time opening consulates in Tianjin, Dalian, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xiamen, Nanjing and other cities, responsible for handling local foreign affairs, and the envoys do not need to kneel and bow to the emperor.

Fifth, the Qing government had the obligation to protect the personal safety of British and French citizens in the Qing Dynasty. Pastors from both countries are allowed to preach freely in China.

Finally reached all the consensus, Guo Ye breathed a long sigh of relief, as for Gero and Ergin, as long as they can go back with victory, it is more important than anything else, it is best to be able to get the maximum benefits, if you can't get the maximum benefits, then ensure the key benefits!

What's the key interest? Establish normal diplomatic relations with the Qing government, as well as foreign trade relations, as for indemnities. Naturally, the more the better, but if you can't get it, then there is no way to do it, the real thing is to open up China's vast market, now the Qing government has opened 16 cities as treaty ports in one go, plus the original inherent treaty ports, has exceeded 20, enough to ensure that the products of Britain and France continue to be sold to China. That's the best interest.

If there is any dissatisfaction among them, it is the one-sided most-favored-nation treatment. The two sides have launched a fierce dispute on this issue, and even Britain and France have proposed to grant each other the most favored nation treatment, but Guo Ye sternly refused, bluffing Prince Gong into a daze, for fear that just because of this one issue, the negotiations will be messed up.

As a result, in the end. Guo Ye still held on, joke, once the most-favored-nation treatment is given, it means that tariffs will be greatly reduced, and the loss of tax revenue is still a trivial matter. The extremely low price of European products will sell well in China, and the Chinese market will be shattered! This opening must not be opened!

Sending away the ministers of the two countries, Prince Gong was a little unhappy, for the treaty signed this time, there are many places, so that he is a little confused, although he agreed to sign such a treaty, but what kind of situation will be faced in the DPRK, but it is really not good to say.

Especially when one of the envoys met the emperor, there was no need to kneel and bow, which was simply a huge impact on the inherent clan system of the Qing Dynasty, and the mission, which was deeply hated by the defenders, just these two items, I was afraid that I and Guo Ye would be attacked by the courtiers!

Prince Gong's face was sad, and he asked, "Guo Ye, are you sure that there will be no problem for you to do this?" I always feel uneasy in my heart, especially in the audience ceremony, this is a great disrespect to the emperor, if the emperor is more serious, I am afraid that you will not be able to eat and walk around, and there are missionary affairs, allowing the spread of foreign religion, but it will cause a huge conflict among the people! ”

Guo Ye smiled bitterly in his heart and replied: "Lord Wang, if we don't agree to the two, I'm afraid what we pay is real money!" You don't think we're really sure we'll be able to defeat the Anglo-French forces, do you? With those old soldiers in Henan and Shaanxi, not to mention the Anglo-French coalition army, even if I have to gather people in Baoding Town, I can defeat them all, in the final analysis, we don't have the capital to fight with others, is it just for a little face, we pay millions of taels or even millions of taels of silver? Just give them one-sided most-favored-nation treatment? It's just a little fame, and this little face is only a penny? What I value is our actual interests, which is the most important thing! ”

Prince Gong asked, "Then you still promised them to open so many treaty ports?" Not even a bargain! As soon as the port is opened, there will be a large number of Western goods entering the mainland, which will have a huge impact on the government! ”

Guo Ye shook his head and replied: "Lord Wang, I just want to let these commodities rush in, only these commodities rush in, we will try our best to sell things, since ancient times, trade is the foundation of a country's prosperity and strength, hundreds of years ago, the Southern Song Dynasty only half of the country, hard resistance to the Mongolian iron horse and the Jurchen iron horse for more than 100 years, why?" It is because of trade, strong trade provides it with sufficient money and food, and the treasury is full, and only when the treasury is full, can we guarantee our war! ”

Prince Gong nodded suspiciously, these things, for him, are still a little difficult to accept, although Prince Gong is shrewd and capable, it is only shrewd and capable, it does not mean that he is proficient in modern foreign affairs, he is not proficient, he just wants to know more about foreign affairs.

Prince Gong smiled bitterly: "I hope so, but you also have to be prepared, such a big thing, I am afraid that the court will not settle down, and the two of us will bear the brunt of it, I am the prince of the iron hat, the emperor can't help me, at most he will leave me idle, but you are different, the group discussion is raging, if you don't do it......"

(To be continued.) )